Will there ever be a post-Miliband era?

By Robert Peaty

If we were to poll Labour members on who they thought Britain’s greatest Prime Minister was, I imagine about 90% of us would respond with Tony Blair. The other 10% would probably opt for Clement Attlee. No one would opt for Margaret Thatcher. Except me. Now before you start sending in the death threats allow me to add a proviso. I hate Margaret Thatcher. I hate everything that Margaret Thatcher stands for. But it cannot be denied that in the post war era there have been two Prime Ministers that have really changed the face of Britain and its politics. Those two Prime Ministers are Clement Attlee and Margaret Thatcher.

Clement Attlee swept into power in 1945 with a landslide victory. His message was one of optimism; no one was to suffer like they did in the depression before the war. Two of his policies would define the coming years; full employment and the NHS. In the years after Attlee both the Labour and Conservative Party were committed to these two ideals. In the post-Attlee era Britain had become a welfare state.

This was turned on the head in the 1980s by Margaret Thatcher. After James Callaghan’s government had to go cap in hand to the IMF, Labour had lost it and because of this Thatcher managed to capture the centre ground and shifted it drastically to the right. While the left was in disarray Thatcher managed to pursue a neo-liberal economic policy and privatisation that would have been unthinkable for the last 40 years. From then on everything Labour did, the whole New Labour project, was a reaction to Thatcher. We now live in a post-Thatcher era.

Like Thatcher, Tony Blair managed to capture the centre ground, and to an extent he shifted it somewhat to the left. However, he did not shape Britain in the same way Thatcher did. With the huge majority Labour had under Blair, one could argue this was a missed opportunity. Everything Labour does is a reaction to the Tories. The Tories take a stance and we plonk ourselves slightly to the left of it.

So what of Ed Miliband? Well he appears to be attempting to attract the middle ground. History tells us this is the right thing to do. The question is whether he has the vision of Attlee or Thatcher to really change Britain. We haven’t seen much of Ed Miliband yet but we know he has the killer instinct – displayed by contesting his own brother for the Labour leadership and sticking up to the media over phone-hacking. If Labour win in 2015 it will be 36 years since Thatcher took office. Surely it is time for Britain to move on?